Thank you for the lovely comments, and for listening - I know character death really isn't for everyone.

Flesh and Bone is incredibly bleak. Claire doesn't experience genuine love from anyone, the closest being her brother (who can't see that he's abused her, he sees them as star-crossed lovers). In the series she is mostly emotionally shut down, but her brother is killed and even though we don't see her learn of it, she would definitely feel grief.

I think I need a happy fic now!